The Calendars of Third-Age Eriador: 1. The Calendars of Third-Age Eriador

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1. The Calendars of Third-Age Eriador

Different cultures do not reckon time in the same ways: a fact that Tolkien appreciated, as one can see from Appendix D in The Lord of the Rings. This is probably one of the least-used background pieces, since Tolkien obligingly "translated" all the time-keeping into terms more familiar to us and, of itself, it holds little that inspires. Consequently, few fan-fiction writers bother with such apparently irrelevant detail. Within the context of a story, "translation" usually smoothes out any difficulties about whether it is Isilya, Monendei, or Monday.

For those of us who write in multicultural contexts, however, such details can be important. Say an Elf arranges to meet a Ranger in Mithlond at Mettarë. They need to be clear on whether that's Elvish Mettarë (in March) or Mettarë by mortal reckoning (in December). Making the appointment for three weeks from now might also be confusing, since the Elves have six days in a week instead of seven. If a Hobbit tells a Gondorian to come to tea on the fifth of Winterfilth, they'd probably get a bemused stare. These kinds of misunderstandings can be very useful for writers in search of tension or comic relief.

Appendix D does not, alas, set calendars other than that of the Shire out in a straightforward fashion. I would therefore like to offer the following as an aid to those who find themselves muddled by the six seasons of the Elves, the idiosyncratic month-names used by the Dúnedain, and various ways of accounting for leap-years. Given the milieu of my own stories, I will discuss the calendrical systems found in the west of Middle-Earth during the later Third Age. Information on other systems, including the Númenórean system of the Second Age and the New Reckoning of the Fourth Age, instituted by King Elessar, is also found in Appendix D. (It may be of interest to note that the March 25th New Year of the New Reckoning not only commemorated the destruction of the Ring, but was very close to the Elvish New Year of Elessar's youth.)

Steward's Reckoning for Men

This is based on King's Reckoning, the Númenórean calendar used in Arnor and Gondor so long as they still had kings. Mardil, the first Ruling Steward of Gondor († T.A. 2080) reformed the calendar to reduce cumulative errors in leap-year rounding (analogous to the 1582 Gregorian calendrical reform in Europe). By the end of the Third Age, this had been adopted by most speakers of Westron or Common Speech. The year began at mid-winter, following the practice of the First Age Edain; a week had seven days; and there were twelve 30-day months, with five days outside the months: Yestarë/First Day, Tuilérë/Spring Day, Loëndë/Year-Middle, Yáviérë/Autumn Day, and Mettarë/Last Day. An extra middle-day (enderi) was added to Loëndë every fourth year. Most Westron-speakers used the ancient Quenya month-names; the Dúnedain were peculiar in using Sindarin month-names. In the table below, the Dúnedain mode is given; those wishing to follow Common practice can consult Appendix D for the corresponding Quenya names.

Shire Reckoning

Hobbits, being conservative souls, did not take to the Steward's reform, and their system is a different variant of the King's Reckoning. (Tolkien was surely influenced by the demonstrated calendrical obstinance of the British. Not only did they resist reforms to the date of Easter in the 7th and 8th centuries, but they clung to the Julian calendar-and its March 25th New Year-until 1752.) Their year also started at mid-winter; they also had seven-day weeks and twelve 30-day months with five days outside the months; but those five days were 1 Yule, 2 Yule, 1 Lithe, Midsummer's Day, and 2 Lithe. The central two days of Yule corresponded to Mettarë and Yestarë in the Steward's Reckoning (Yuletide ran for six days in all); the other three were the consecutive Summerdays, to which they added a fourth day, Overlithe, once every four years. Their own count of years (S.R.) began with the colonization of the Shire in T.A. 1601, so that T.A. 3020 corresponds to S.R. 1420, which was an Overlithe leap-year. They had their own month and weekday names; Tolkien gives archaic and "modern" forms of the latter in Appendix D.

The Calendar of Imladris

Elves had a different perspective on time. Their basic unit was the yén, which is 144 solar years, but they also recognized a coranar or "sun-round," the solar year. This was more commonly called a loa or "growth," in reference to the turn of the seasons. Consideration of the waxing and waning of green, growing things was important in their short calendar; so was their base-six numerical system, with its preference for reckoning by six and twelve. The Elvish year began with spring; they had six-day weeks; and they had six seasons, two of which were 72 days (12 weeks) long and four of which were 54 days (9 weeks) long. They had five days outside these seasons; however, these do not precisely match those of the other calendars. Two are Yestarë and Mettarë, as in the Mannish system, but these fell around the spring equinox instead of the winter solstice. Like the Hobbits, they lumped the other three enderi or middle-days together (no specific names are given); but at the fall equinox rather than the summer solstice. These were doubled to six days every twelve years. Both the Quenya and Sindarin season names are given in the table below; weekday names in these two languages can be found in Appendix D. Being the People of the Stars, Elves reckoned that a day started at sunset, rather than sunrise, and had distinct names for evening and morning twilight.

Dwarves

I am disappointed that Tolkien said so little regarding Dwarvish calendrics. One might think such matters were as closely guarded as their language were it not for Thorin's statement that "all should know" when their year began, on "the first day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the sky together" (The Hobbit, "A Short Rest"). This suggests that Dwarves used a lunisolar system based on the cycles of the moon as well as the sun, similar to those of Semitic-language-speakers such as Jews and Arabs, with whom they also share linguistic traits. (Early versions of The Hobbit had Durin's Day falling on the first moon of Autumn [Rateliff, Mr. Baggins, Ch. III "Rivendell," iv], which would match the beginning of the Hebrew year in September or October). If the parallel holds, the Dwarvish year began with the first visible crescent after the new moon preceding the winter solstice . . . and that is when the keyhole to the secret door opened on the Lonely Mountain: "[Bilbo] saw the orange ball of the sun sinking towards the level of his eyes . . . and there pale and faint was a thin new moon above the rim of the Earth" (The Hobbit, "On the Doorstep"). It is odd, however, that Thorin said Dwarves were no longer able to guess when Durin's Day falls--they were aware of the approaching date of the winter solstice, and it should not have been difficult to coordinate that with the phases of the moon. The only other piece of possibly calendrical information we have is that the Dwarves of Nogrod gave feasts at midsummer (The Silmarillion, "Of Maeglin").

Strictly speaking, the Gregorian calendar-that used by modern European-derived societies-was not found in Eriador in the Third Age, but is included to provide a base-line for the reader. (So, was Aragorn born on March 1st or Gwaeron 1st?) The following correspondences were calculated by setting Loëndë and Midsummer's Day to June 21st (summer solstice), and filling in the months and extra days as described in Appendix D. It was highly gratifying to see that the Elvish Yestarë would then fall on the spring equinox if Tuilérë was equated with the first day of tuilë. "Leap-year" accommodations are given in parentheses on a separate line for each system, and days outside the months or seasons are in bold.

Acknowledgements: Many thanks to the amiable denizens of the Garden of Ithilien for encouragement and support; special mentions to Gwynnyd, for the code that makes the table readable, and Lissa, for a timely reminder of Durin's Day.

This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author.

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